The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury pp

Usher II Stendahl builds a house similar to Poe’s House of Usher with robots, horror, and fantasy objects. He does this because he is outraged at the banning of books on Earth. In the end, he destroys his house much as Poe’s house was destroyed. The Big Questions How do you feel about censorship? Should some things be censored? How do you feel about Stendahl’s murders?

Banned Books Where the Sidewalk Ends Huckleberry Finn The Martian Chronicles The Living Bible To Kill a Mockingbird The Crucible The Diary of Anne Frank Harriet, The Spy American Heritage Dictionary The Chocolate War Harry Potter Books Speak The Outsiders Of Mice and Men

The Old Ones Mars is flooded with retired people. The Big Question Do you think that the retired people are coming to Mars for the same reason as the black people? Is there prejudice on Earth about older people?

The Martian Lefarge and his wife settle on Mars and they miss their dead son, Tom. However one night Tom appears to them. When Anna Lefarge wants to go to town, Tom is terrified. In Town, everyone sees Tom as someone in their lives. Tom eventually collapses and melts. The Big Question Explain who Tom Lefarge really is, what he wants, and why he doesn’t want to go to town.

The Luggage Store A priest and a luggage salesman discuss the imminent atomic war on earth. They speculate that there will be a run on luggage from people who want to return to earth. The Big Question Why would you want to return to earth if there was an atomic war about to happen?

The Off Season Sam Parkhill and his wife Elma open a hot dog stand. A Martian approaches him and he shoots him. Later when they see more Martians, they try to flee in a sandship. When they finally are approached by Martians, they give Sam ½ of Mars. This is great until Sam sees the earth burst into flames. The Big Question What is Bradbury saying about the settlers and their desire to create commerce on the new planet?

The Watchers The settlers watch the destruction of earth and think about home. They slowly begin to leave their new planet. The Big Questions Why leave Mars? What does this say about their commitment to their new civilization?